Audrey Meadows

Infobox actor
name = Audrey Meadows


imagesize = 160px
birthname = Audrey Cotter
othername = Audrey Meadows Six
birthdate = February 8, 1922
location = Wuchang, China
deathdate = death date and age|1996|2|3|1922|2|8
deathplace = Beverly Hills, California, USA
spouse = Robert Six (1961-1986)
Randolph Rouse (1956-1958)
website = http://www.audreymeadows.com
emmyawards = Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series
1954 "The Jackie Gleason Show"
tonyawards =

Audrey Meadows (February 8, 1922 – February 3, 1996) was an American actress best known for her role as the deadpan housewife Alice Kramden on the 1950s American television comedy "The Honeymooners".

Biography

Early life

Meadows was born Audrey Cotter in Wu-ch'ang, China, to Episcopal missionaries Rev. Francis James Meadows Cotter and Ida Cotter ("née" Ida Miller Taylor).

Career

Shortly after her birth, Meadows' family returned to their home in Sharon, Connecticut. After high school, she moved to New York City and became a singer in the Broadway show "Top Banana" before becoming a regular on the "Bob and Ray Show". She was then hired to play Alice on "The Jackie Gleason Show" after the original Alice, Pert Kelton, who originated the role when the "Honeymooners" was a skit on Gleason's variety show, lost the role due to the blacklist. Her absence was explained away as due to her health.

Meadows retained the role when "The Honeymooners" became a half-hour situation comedy on CBS. She then returned to play Alice after a long hiatus, when Gleason produced occasional "Honeymooners" specials in the 1970s. Meadows had auditioned for Gleason and was initially turned down for being too chic and pretty for the drab Alice. Meadows later submitted a photo of herself as plain and decidedly un-chic, which won her the role. She and Gleason had a pleasant, friendly rapport when working together.

Meadows appeared in a number of films, worked with Dean Martin on his celebrity roasts, and then returned to situation comedy in the 1980s playing the mother-in-law on "Too Close for Comfort". She had an appearance in an episode of "The Simpsons", "Old Money", where she did the voice of Bea Simmons, Grampa Simpsons' girlfriend; her character died in that episode.

Personal life

On August 24, 1961, Meadows married Robert F. "Bob" Six, President of Continental Airlines, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Their marriage was happy, but childless. Meadows served as director of the First National Bank of Denver for eleven years, the first woman to hold this position, and was also an Advisory Director of Continental Airlines. Six died in 1986.

In October 1994, Meadows published her memoirs, entitled, "Love, Alice".

In 1995, Audrey was diagnosed with lung cancer, but declined treatment. She was apparently estranged from her sister and her sister's family and had not been on speaking terms with them for at least a year. Jayne Meadows was unaware of Audrey's illness and first learned her sister was hospitalized when she was on a Hollywood soundstage appearing on an episode of the short-lived sitcom "High Society". She rushed to the hospital but Meadows was already in a coma.

Meadows died on February 3, 1996. She is interred in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California

References

External links

* [http://www.audreymeadows.com Audrey Meadows official website]
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Persondata
NAME= Meadows, Audrey
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Cotter, Audrey
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH= February 8, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH= Wuchang, China
DATE OF DEATH= 1996-2-3
PLACE OF DEATH= Los Angeles, California